1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display input device including a display unit and an input unit such as a touch panel, and also relates to an image forming apparatus equipped with the same, such as a copier, a multifunction peripheral, a printer, or a fax machine.
2. Description of Related Art
For instance, an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a multifunction peripheral is equipped with display input device that user can select and set among the functions. For instance, the display input device has a touch panel display unit that displays screens and buttons for input, a plurality of hardware keys, and the like. However, when many types of functions are equipped, an input procedure of the display input device and a display on the screen are apt to be complicated. For this reason, an inexperienced user may be confused about which operation to perform next. Therefore, there is known a device considering such inexperienced users.
For instance, there is known an input/output device, which detects an end of a predetermined job step in a flow and generates a signal change for leading an operator to an operation key to be operated next necessary for a next job step or an input step, such as a light emission, a blinking, or a pop-up of the operation key to be operated next or in the vicinity of the operation key. With this structure, it is aimed to solve the difficulty in finding the operation key to be operated next, and to provide an input/output device that is easy to use a desired function in accordance with a procedure for even an inexperienced person.
For instance, the display input device such as an image forming apparatus displays screens for operation and setting on the touch panel liquid crystal display unit. Further, the display input device receives input of a number, a character, a symbol, or the like, reflects a result of the input, and may display the same. For instance, the input characters and the like represent a transmission destination or a name of the image data.
Further, there is a case where the display input device is equipped with a function of assisting input of numbers, characters, and symbols. For instance, there is a function in which a desired history of input of numbers or the like that has been performed previously can be called so that the input state of the called history of input of numbers or the like is restored. Thus, it is possible to save time and strokes for input of the same numbers, characters, or symbols. A button for using this input assist function is displayed on the touch panel display unit, for example.
On the other hand, the input assist function cannot always be used. For instance, the above-mentioned function of referring to the input history cannot be used if there is no input history. In this way, there is an input assist button whose state is changed between enabled (the function can be used when the button is pressed) and disabled (the function cannot be used when the button is pressed) in accordance with a state of the image forming apparatus or the display input device.
In general, it is possible to input numbers or characters without using the input assist button of numbers or the like. In addition, the enable and disable are switched. Therefore, importance thereof may be regarded to be low. From these situations, the input assist button may be displayed at a position distant from an input result display area of the numbers or the like. However, when the input result display area of the numbers or the like and the input assist button of the numbers or the like are distant from each other, there is a problem that it is difficult to know which area the operation of the button is reflected on.
In particular, a small size panel (e.g., 4.3 inches) may be used as the display unit of the image forming apparatus or the like. Even the small size panel is required to display a certain amount of information in one screen. Therefore, for convenience of a display layout, the input result display area of the numbers or the like may be distant from the input assist button for the numbers or the like.
In addition, image data of a screen displayed on the display unit is usually fixed, so a position of the button is fixed. Conventionally, the input assist button for the numbers or the like in the disabled state is gray-out displayed or displayed in a translucent manner. However, there is a problem that the display of the disabled button for the input assist is a waste of the screen area. In particular, as a panel size of the display unit is smaller, a degree of waste of the screen area increases relatively.
Note that the above-mentioned conventional input/output device can provide an index for the operation key to be operated next, but the reflection or the action when the operation key is pressed is not shown. Therefore, the problem that it is not clear which area the operation of the button is reflected on cannot be solved. In addition, the problem of the waste of the screen area due to display of the disabled button cannot be solved, too.